


Phantom Pain

by abbeneyk003



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Banker Ben, F/M, Ghost Rey, Star Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-21 03:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16151372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbeneyk003/pseuds/abbeneyk003
Summary: America, 1885. Benjamin Solo works for First Order Bank. After the death of his father, he begins to see a silver spirit. Is it a figment if Bens overworked and exhausted mind, or is this vision actually happening?THIS IS MY FIRST FIC EVER! Inspired by the painting Spirite 1885 be George Roux. :) ENJOY! Any feedback is appreciated.





	Phantom Pain

At first, he thought he was going mad. Or maybe it was just stress from his job at First Order banking. After all, his boss drove him to work excruciatingly long hours under suffocating deadlines. The glimpses of this ethereal form were just his mind playing tricks, he decided, and so he scolded his tired mind into letting it go.

But as the months past, Benjamin Solo saw her (as he now realized it was indeed the incorporeal form of a young woman he continued to see everywhere) and he knew it couldn’t be his imagination. He didn’t have much of one of those and so to continuously see the same unearthly beautiful woman over and over could not be the workings of his very logical and unimaginative mind. In the early stages of these sightings, the ghost made him nervous and somewhat afraid. Why was she here? What did she want with him? Now however, whenever she would appear in his study or wander through a hallway, he was gripped with an unshakable curiosity. Who was she? What had happened to her? And why had she only shown up now, shortly after the traumatic loss of his father, and not during his years of unending childhood neglect?

Something about her calmed him. She never seemed to notice his presence in the rooms she appeared in. It was almost as if it were Ben that were the ghost, and not she. Sometimes she’d be taking a walk around the room, or would seem to be reading in the armchair by the fire, although Ben could not see a book in her hands. She almost seemed to glow silvery white in the dark of his study, and it was this aura that always caught his attention whenever she would materialize. Silent and pensive she seemed to Ben. Not sad, but more solemn, as if she had been alone a long time and had grown used to the quiet habits she held. He wondered if these were somehow shadows of memories from the past and not her spirit making a conscious choice of where to appear or what to do. “A spirit making conscious choice” he had snorted to himself as the thought entered his mind. “Really Solo, you’re losing it. Since when do you consider the activities of the dead?” And with that, he tried once more to ignore specter whenever she would blink into existence.

The apparitions began to happen less and less frequently as more months past. Ben hadn’t realized how much he had relied of her calming presence, that had been so frequent in months past, until it was almost a fortnight since he’d seen her and he could feel his apprehension growing. “Where has she gone?” He wondered to himself. “Why come into my life only to disappear again after only 6 months time?” With growing frustration at the lack of visits from his lovely spirit, Ben threw himself deeper into his work, barely sleeping and only eating when he was shaking so badly he could barely hold his pen.

Ben began to look dreadful, his cheeks sallow, his skin paler than usual and possessing an almost waxy quality, and the deep bruise like circles under his eyes giving away the state of exhaustion. His temper had gotten even worse than what his coworkers considered normal, and they began to avoid him as much as was possible, not knowing what would send him into a fit of unbridled rage. Only after he had hauled off and punched his partner, Armitage, in the face and broken his nose after a mild comment about the weather, did Bens assistant practically drag him home and threaten him within an inch of his life should he return to work before he was feeling better. Ben had to concede that he indeed looked quite ill.  
He decided that he would try to relax, make some tea, and finish up some correspondence before heading off to his chambers.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Why was he getting so upset over the loss of a phantom woman? It wasn’t logical! He reasoned that it had been a hard year and that she (wether a figment of his imagination or not) was one of the only good things about it. And now it had been 5 weeks since he’d seen her last and Ben was becoming unraveled. He sat in his study with a fresh cup of tea and tried to concentrate on his letters, but he was so fatigued that the words kept blurring in and out of focus, and no matter how hard he rubbed at his eyes, he couldn’t keep the words from swimming around on the parchment in front of him. He drew in a long breath and sighed, pushing the letters away from him and briefly shutting his eyes.

Or at least he thought it was only briefly. The sound of light piano music cut through the deep sleep Ben had found himself in, and he began to stir. As he came to, he became aware of the discomforts sleeping at his desk had brought. His spectacles dug painfully into his face, his back and neck complained angrily about the angle he had been in, and his arm was completely numb from where his head had been resting on it. But the music didn’t stop as he awoke like Ben had thought it would. He assumed the music had been a part of his dreams, but as awareness returned to him he realized the light tinkling of keys was coming from just across his study where his mother’s pianoforte sat. Ben immediately leaped from his chair, sending it crashing to the floor. Before him was his apparition. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, her normally soft glow was nearly blinding this time and she lit the normally dim study with more light than any of his lamps could ever hope to do. Immediately her calming atmosphere had nearly brought Ben to his knees in relief. He was torn between wanting to call out her, and the fear that if he made any move, she’d dissolve into thin air and he’d be left alone again.

Her song continued lightly and quietly, as Ben simply gawked. He couldn’t believe that this was happening. In all the times she’d appeared to him, he hadn’t realized she had the capability of affecting the world around her. She had passed so easily through walls and pieces of furniture that one would have assumed her slim fingers would have gone right through the keys with which she was producing such a sweet and hauntingly beautiful tune. The melody soon came to an end, and Ben feared that as the last note faded on the piano that she would as well. But as the piano became silent once more, she did something that she’d never done before. She spoke. “Hello Ben. Did you miss me?” Her voice was clear as a bell, and Ben was sure that if he lived 100 years, he’d never forget her lilting accent. He didn’t say anything, still to transfixed by her to make any move. Finally she turned to fix him with her large round eyes. “Ben?” She said worryingly. “Is everything alright?” The concern in her voice finally snapped him out of his trance and he took a step towards her.

“Who are you?” He finally choked out.

Her mouth quirked up at the corner and Bens heart and stomach did simultaneous somersaults at the expression. “Ah yes, I suppose we haven’t formally met before have we?” She said. “I’m Rey. It’s very nice to finally meet you.”


End file.
